A letter urging the Jews of Donetsk to get registered, which the US Secretary of State cited in Geneva, is a fake says a man whose signature appears on the communication.

Following the four-side meeting on the Ukrainian crisis in Geneva
on Wednesday, John Kerry lashed out at a letter that was
allegedly sent to Jewish citizens in Ukraine’s eastern town of
Donetsk, asking them to register and report all their property,
or be stripped of citizenship and face expulsion.

“In year 2014, after all of the miles traveled in all the
journey of history, this is not just intolerable, it's grotesque…
beyond unacceptable," he stated.

The letter was stamped and signed by Denis Pushilin, who was
identified on it as the “People’s Governor.”

However, Pushilin denied he had anything to do with the letter,
claiming it was a fake.

“There are similar letters not only addressed to Jews, but
also to businessmen, foreign students, people of certain other
occupations,” he told RT. “This is actually a fake, and
not a good one. There’s a sign “People’s Governor”. First of all,
no one calls me by that title, no one elected me. Secondly, the
stamp is the former mayor’s. Everything’s photoshopped.”

Pushilin added that sensible people can only take what the
authors of this “letter” were trying to say with humor. The
self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic “is
multinational,” he said. “We get along perfectly well
here with everyone. And there aren’t any conflicts on national
grounds, that’s for sure.”

Although the letter’s authenticity is questionable, the fact that
it was mentioned by a top US official has quickly sent the
“Letter to Jews” story viral. It struck a very sensitive chord
with audiences worldwide and cast a grave shadow over
anti-government protesters in Donetsk.

The “letter” story also went ballistic on Reddit. However, its authenticity was
seriously questioned and the social network community concluded
the document is "almost certainly fake."

Meanwhile, a Ukrainian MP who has visited the turbulent region,
Boris Kolesnikov of the Party of Regions, has urged that
information coming from Ukraine should be double-checked.

He believes that Ukrainian law enforcement agencies aren’t being
totally honest when they describe the people participating in the
protests and claim there are Russian servicemen among them.

Kolesnikov specifically referred to a video which earlier
appeared online. In it a man in a military uniform told police
officers, who switched sides in the city of Gorlovka and joined
protesters, that he was Russian lieutenant-colonel from
Simpheropol, Crimea. The man was later identified by Gorlovka
residents as the former director of a local cemetery.

“Officially, I’ve only seen one Russian serviceman,”
Kolesnikov said. “The next day he appeared to be the
ex-director of the Gorlovka cemetery, fired 2 years ago for
selling 38 fences, stealing a monument and extorting money from
old women for new graves. There are Interior Ministry and
intelligence services in the country, which should give us
truthful information.”

He added it was quite obvious that the protesters in Donetsk did
not represent any danger to civilians and called for negotiations
with the activists. These talks would explain Kiev’s position and
that the government is ready to make amendments to the
constitution.

The US appears to be relying on information from Kiev, while
ignoring alternative points of view. And so it seems that a top
US official picked up and railed about a letter of questionable
authenticity.

Earlier in April, spokesperson for the US Department of State,
Jen Psaki, said that protest events in eastern Ukraine
“appeared to be a carefully orchestrated campaign with
Russian support.”

She was then asked if the department was only relying on Kiev in
its assessment of the situation, or was using some independent
sources.

“Well, of course we remain very closely in touch with the
Ukrainian Government, and that’s who we work closely with, and of
course, they are on the ground, so their information is often
very relevant and current,” was the reply.